The Year Was: 1968
02.24.25
With The Year Was, Annett takes you on a journey through time. In each show we travel back to one year ago. What did it sound like – around the world, in different genres, scenes and areas of pop culture?
This time we turn back the clock to a year of upheaval and protest: 1968 was the height of the student and civil rights movements around the world: The anti-Vietnam War marches and riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King in the U.S., the May riots in France, the Praque Spring, student protests in Germany and Mexico, where two black American Olympic athletes staged their own iconic protest by raising their fists on the podium.
While the world burned outside the recording studios, musicians tried to capture the spirit of what was happening. The late-’60s soul of Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Otis Redding offered everything from empowerment to a little comfort to a way to express grief. Out of San Francisco, the bands of the hippie movement tried to change the world through positivity. Jimi Hendrix took on a Dylan song. The Beatles seemed to be in the midst of an existential crisis. In Brazil, Tropicália artists rebelled against the dictatorial grip of the government. While Stanley Kubrick stunned the world with “2001: A Space Odyssey” – eerily mirroring the iconic “Earthrise” image captured by the Apollo 8 astronauts.
1968 was a cultural atom bomb. Let’s listen back!
Tracklist:
Gladys Knight & The Pips – I Wish It Would Rain
The Impressions – We’re A Winner
The Rolling Stones – Street Fighting Man
Dr. John – I Walk on Guilded Splinters
Gilberto Gil – Coragem Pra Suportar
Nina Simone – Why? (The King of Love Is Dead) (Live at Westbury Music Fair, April 1968)
James Brown – Say It Loud – I’m Black And I’m Proud – Pts.1 & 2
The Beatles – Revolution 9
Jimi Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower
Caetano Veloso – Tropicália
Toots & The Maytals – Pressure Drop
Aretha Franklin – Think
Scene from Stanley Kubricks “2001 A Space Odyssey”
Archie Bell & The Drells – Tighten Up, Pt. 1
The Dells – There Is
The Zombies – Time of the Season
France Gall – Teenie Weenie Boppie
Claude Nougaro – Paris mai
Wolf Biermann – Ermutigung
Franz Josef Degenhardt – 2. Juni 1967
Dionne Warwick – Do You Know the Way to San Jose
Lily Chao – A Kangding Love Song
The Velvet Underground – Here She Comes Now
Peter Brötzmann – Machine Gun
Silver Apples – Seagreen Serenades
The Doors – The Unknown Soldier
Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Diana Ross & The Supremes – Love Child
Steppenwolf – Reflections
Tommy James & The Shondells – Crimson and Clover
Johnny Cash – 25 Minutes to Go (Live at Folsom State Prison, January 1968)
Leonard Cohen – Winter Lady
The Kinks – The Village Green Preservation Society
Donovan – Hurdy Gurdy Man
Sly & The Family Stone – Everyday People
Miles Davis – Nefertiti
Rotary Connection – Memory Band
Status Quo – Pictures of Matchstick Men
Simon & Garfunkel – America
Os Mutantes – Panis Et Circenses (Alternative Version)
Otis Redding – Ole Man Trouble
